Ryan, a tall 25 year old blond with icy blue eyes, greeted his friends absently as he took a seat around the crowded outdoor table. Marco's had the best coffee on campus, and graduate students in particular, kept the place packed from opening til closing. At the moment the lunch crowd had overflowed into the quad, filling the nearby tables and benches and fanning out onto the grounds, most with open books nearby.
One young girl had immediately grabbed Ryan's notice. She sat on the grass, apparently engrossed in some textbook. She had to be a freshman, hell she looked like she belonged in junior high. He could tell little else about her size or shape. She was wearing baggy sweats and a hoodie and sat hunched over her book. The hood hid all but a few strands of light brownish hair. She had pale skin and a dusting of freckles with a full mouth and very large eyes. Brown or black, Ryan thought, though it was hard to be sure at this distance.
What had drawn Ryan's interest was the way she ignored everyone, everything around her, huddling closer to her book whenever anyone came near. Everyone in sight seemed to be drinking in the fresh air and sunshine, soaking up the first beautiful day after weeks of overcast skies and drizzling rain. Clearly the girl had been driven by the same desires to leave the safety of whatever hole she normally hid herself in. But she never looked around, never looked up at the blue sky. And there was something about her... something in the hunch of her shoulders, the tightness around her eyes... something he couldn't quite define. Something he'd seen before in girls that craved his sort of attention.
Ryan blinked as a hand waved an inch in front of his face. "What?" His friends laughed.
"Amy wants to know if you're single, dude," Jason said.
Ryan frowned and looked at the girl sitting next to him. A grad student like him, twenty-three or four, blonde, blue eyes, sexy.
"Why?" he asked, confused.
Jeanne, a cute med student laughed. "Because you're hot as hell, and we never see you with anyone. And I've known you for months. My money is on a tragically broken heart."
"I told them you were gay," Todd said.
"You wish," Ryan laughed.
"I do," Todd said with a sigh. "I really, really do."
Ryan dug a chunk of ice from his glass and threw it at the younger man.
"Actually," Amy said, "my sister is coming for a visit next week..."
"Is she hot?" Jason asked, just as Lisa said "Don't do that!"
Ignoring Jason, all eyes went to the third girl at the table. Lisa was tall, black, with hair that hung to her waist. She was Ryan's best friend and easily the most stunning woman in sight.
Ryan smiled and raised an eyebrow at her.
"What do you mean?" Amy asked. "Is he contagious or something?" She gave a little laugh as if only half joking.
"Sorry, Ryan," Lisa said blushing. "Someday I'll get a filter between my brain and my mouth."
"Don't worry about it," he said, looking back at the girl on the grass. She seemed in no hurry to finish her lunch. Good, neither was he, nor did he want to lose her.
"So, are you going to explain?" Jason asked, leaning forward, blocking Ryan's view of the girl. Ryan leaned to his right a bit to keep her in sight.
Lisa stammered, "It's nothing. Ryan doesn't like being set up, that's all."
Ryan shook his head. "What my oldest and dearest friend means to say is that I'm not the kind of guy you want hooking up with your sister."
"You seem like a nice guy to me," Jeanne said.
"I am a nice guy," Ryan grinned, "to you."
"Ah, a love 'em and leave 'em kinda guy, huh?" Jason laughed. "I hear ya. One night, wham-bam, no thank ya, I'm outta here, right?"
Ryan shrugged. "Not really."
"Then I don't get it," Todd said. "Are you gay?"
This time it was Jason who threw the ice at him. "Keep your pants on, butt-boy, Ry's not your type."
Todd glared at his older brother, saying nothing.
"I treat the girls I fuck like shit," Ryan said, still paying more attention to the girl on the grass than to his friends. Her hoodie had fallen back and he could see a mop of light brown, shoulder length curls that fell forward to frame her delicate face.
"I guess that's why we never see you with anyone," Jeanne said with a frown. "Maybe if you treated them better they'd hang around longer."
Ryan shook his head. Jeanne had been crushing on him since he'd moved to town, it was obvious. But she wasn't his type, which was why she still liked him.
"I wouldn't want them to hang around if it meant I had to treat them better. Besides, enough girls like the way I treat them. I do alright."
Amy cocked her head, studying Ryan with a frown. "I'm sorry, I'm just having a really hard time picturing YOU as some misogynistic bastard."
Ryan blinked. "What do you mean? I like women! My best friend is a woman."
"He's not a misogynist," Lisa told them. "He's a sadist. Not serial killer sadist, but definitely nightmare boyfriend sadist. He only dates girls who seem to be into that kind of thing. I don't get it, but whatever. Still, I wouldn't let him date my sister."
"Your sister is thirteen and has braces," Ryan laughed.
"Sorry if I don't trust that to stop you," Lisa said with a mock threatening glare.
"That's fair," Ryan said with a shrug. "Joking, joking!" he laughed when Lisa punched him in the arm.
"Nobody wants to be abused," Jeanne protested.
"She does," Ryan said, nodding toward the young girl in the hoodie.
"Her?" Amy studied the girl. "She's a kid! A shy kid, I guess. That doesn't mean she wants to be treated like crap."
Ryan shrugged. "This is why I don't bring girlfriends around you guys. I knew you wouldn't understand. It's my kink, not yours." He smiled. "It is hers though. Excuse me."
The girl was gathering her books and the remains of her lunch, clearly about to leave. He had to meet her before she melted into the crowd.
Amy grabbed his arm. "Are you going to hurt that girl?" she asked seriously. Ryan smiled. He pulled her hand from his arm and brushed his lips across her knuckles.
"I certainly hope so," he said.
Ryan timed it perfectly. He was walking past, and just as the girl rose to her feet he angled sharply towards her. She turned away from him, tangling her feet and falling to the grass, books and trash flying from her arms. He stopped and laughed.
She scuttled about on her hands and knees gathering her things. Ryan crouched beside her, watching but not helping. Reaching out he hooked a strand of loose curls behind her ear, the better to see her face. She jumped, but didn't pull away and didn't look at him.
"You look pretty on you knees," he said quietly.
She looked at him then. Her eyes were nearly black, he saw, and very large in her pale face. She looked like a startled deer. Her breathing was rapid and shallow. She seemed frozen in place.
After a moment Ryan smiled. "That was a compliment," he said, in a chiding tone.
"Tha.." the girl cleared her throat nervously. "Thank you." Speaking seemed to free her to move and she finished gathering her things. She made as if to stand, but Ryan stopped her with a hand on the back of her neck.
"Stay on all fours," he said. "Sorry, but you're just so adorable like that. I don't suppose you'd consider taking your jacket off so I could get a better look at you?"
Ryan kept his hand on her neck, and she kept her eyes on the ground. Neither of them spoke or moved as the seconds ticked by. Finally the girl unzipped her hoodie and slid it off. Her position made it an awkward maneuver but she didn't try to raise up. She handed him her jacket and placed her hands back on the ground.
She was wearing a black bra but no top. Granted it was one of those cover everything sports bras women wore to jog or work out in, but a nice surprise anyway. Ryan ran a finger over her ribs and grinned when she flinched. She was a thin girl, maybe 5'2, still hard to say, and with really huge tits despite the smash-em-down bra. Very nice. Ryan grinned. It was a cool day and he could clearly see her nipples through the rather thick material. Her back and arms were covered in goose bumps.
